The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to enhanced machine-type communications (eMTC) cell acquisition using a narrow band (NB) synchronization channel.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Some wireless communications systems may include base stations that support multiple device type deployments. For example, in eMTC and NB-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) deployments, mobile devices may communicate with a base station (or other serving station) using resources allocated specifically for one deployment or the other. A synchronization procedure between a mobile device and a base station may be performed in order for the mobile station to acquire and attach to a particular cell served by the base station. As different synchronization techniques and signals may be utilized in each deployment, the time for acquiring a cell may vary depending on whether the device is attempting to acquire a cell supporting eMTC or NB-IoT. Longer cell acquisition times may decrease device performance and in low signal to noise ratio (SNR) environments, communication between the mobile device and the base station may be deleteriously affected.